Green And Healthy School Lunches
With a quick glance around most school yards at the end of the day you will be sure to see plenty of garbage cans overflowing with the leftovers from lunch! Juice boxes, drink pouches, plastic sandwich bags, granola bar wrappers and aluminum cans to name just a few.
It has been estimated that a child bringing a disposable lunch to school each day will generate 67 pounds of waste per school year. For an average size elementary school this equals about 18,760 pound of waste each year.
Although many school yards provide recycling bins they are seldom used correctly by our average elementary school student. Most of this waste just ends up in the garbage.
Todays moms are busy though and these disposable utensils, pre-packaged snack packs and juice boxes offer a quick and easy solution to the daily lunch box challenge! But - by making just a few small changes, moms can send their child off to school each day with a healthy, waste free lunch that will actually save them some money too!
So how’s a busy mom ever going to find time to make these changes? These Green Lunch Tips have come to the rescue!
- Use a lunchbox designed to help families pack nutricious, environment friendly lunches for busy families on the go. Perfect for school, work or a day there are some sustainable lunch containers out there which are reusable, recyclable and dishwasher safe. Try to find lead free items too.
- Purchase food items in larger quantities saving you money while reducing waste at home.
- A reusable water bottle will encourage your family to drink water instead of juice and greatly reduce school yard waste.
- Pack reusable spoons and forks instead of disposable ones.
- Try packing a cloth napkins instead of paper ones. Many companies are offering some great styles and designs which will also bring a smile to your childs’ face when they open their lunchbox.
- Pack lunches the night before to save yourself some valuable “morning time”.
- Make extra servings at dinner time so that the extra portions can be immediately placed into small containers ready to go into the lunchboxes.
- Many States and School Districts offer recycling tips and green/healthy lunch tips and programs. Inquire and your childs’ school and see what is available.
We know that we’ll be making an extra effort to reduce waste at our school this fall. Generating 67 pounds of waste just does not seem to be acceptable in todays environment.
Julie Zarchi is a wahm and owner of SuperMomz, an online boutique featuring Essentials for todays busy SuperMom. Julie is a mother of two and an active Green Lunch Advocate! SuperMomz is proud to carry products to help you prepare greener school lunches
Tags: Green Kids, Green Lunch Boxes, Laptop Lunchbox, Laptop Lunches, Lunch Box, Lunches, School Lunch
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